PATRICK STAR

Patrick Star is the deuteragonist of the Nickelodion animated comedy series Spongebob Squarepants, created by creator Stephen Hillenburg and voiced by Bill Fagerbakke. Patrick's most significant character trait is his lack of common sense, which sometimes makes him a negative influence on his best friend, Spongebob Squarepants. Patrick is the third most recurring character on the show, appearing in 253 episodes, behind Squidwards 270 and Spongebob's 305, although he is more well-known than Squidward.

Patrick is portrayed as fat, lazy, unmannered, dimwitted, and generally ignorant. Unlike most of the other main characters, Patrick lacks a nose. Because of this, he generally cannot smell (such as in "Something Smells" in which SpongeBob has halitosis). However, in the episode, "No Nose Knows", Patrick receives a nose through plastic surgery. However, when Patrick tries to get rid of every bad smell, SpongeBob,Squidward, Mr. Krabs, and Sandy deform Patrick's nose by building a giant ball of trash and sewage. In Season 1, due to unsteady animation, his eyebrows were thin and in the shape of a couple of M's. Beginning in Season 2, his eyebrows were slightly thicker and shaped like Z's. In several episodes Patrick is shown to variously have a full set of teeth, a single tooth, and sometimes none at all.

Patrick's intelligence is generally low, although it varies from episode to episode. In some episodes, Patrick has trouble with even the most rudimentary tasks and displays little common sense or intelligence. Other times he can appear almost brilliant, and is prone to fits of temporary intelligence which confuse the other characters. In the episode "Tentacle Vision", Squidward asks Patrick "Just how stupid are you?" to which Patrick replies "It varies". In earlier episodes, Patrick appeared to be somewhat more intelligent, often making profound comments and often being very articulate.

Patrick seems to detect malice and sarcasm more easily than SpongeBob, indicating that he is more attentive or emotionally connected than other characters. He is generally well intentioned but often inadvertently causes trouble both for himself and also his friends.

In "Rule of Dumb", Patrick was discovered to be of royal blood and briefly reigned as King of Bikini Bottom. The true heir to the throne turned out to be Gary The Snail, who is revealed to be Patrick's cousin.

Patrick lives at Conch Street next to Squidward Tentacles in Bikini Bottom.

Patrick has no steady occupation and spends most of his time sleeping, watching television, or playing with his best friend Spongebob Squarepants. When he tries to find work he is shown to have little skill or common sense; for example in "Big Pink Loser", he struggles with simple tasks such as sweeping or opening a jar. His skill is portrayed as doing nothing as shown in "Stanley S. SquarePants" and "Big Pink Loser", in the latter he wins a trophy for "doing absolutely nothing longer than anyone else". In the episode "Sing a Song of Patrick", Patrick takes advantage of a mail-in offer to have a song written by him recorded by a professional band. The song was so horrible that the band died (the lead singer having stated "We're gonna do this even if it kills us", which it did).

Patrick is a career journeyman who is mostly unemployed throughout the course of the series. At times he holds various short-term jobs (much like the character Kramer on the show, Seinfeld) as the storyline of each episode requires. Patrick has worked for the Krusty Krab a total of eight times: In the episodes "Arghh!", "Big Pink Loser", "Squilliam Returns", "That's no Lady", "Bummer Vacation", "Banned In Bikini Bottom", "No Hat For Pat", and "Pat No Pay". Patrick has also worked at the Chum Bucket three times. The first was in "The Fry Cook Games", in which he takes the job in order to be able to compete in the Fry Cook Games. In the episode "Chum Bucket  Supreme", Patrick becomes the slogan manager for the Chum Bucket and creates the catchphrase "CHUM IS FUM". His third outing is in the episode "Bucket Sweet Bucket" when Patrick, SpongeBob, and Squidward take charge of redecorating the Chum Bucket.

Due to his lack of intelligence, Patrick often gives advice to SpongeBob that's usually impractical or dangerous, and often gets them both into trouble. Despite his innocence, he has also been a criminal several times in the series. Patrick has been referred to as "The Pink Menace", and appears as that character in several SpongeBob video games. Patrick is generally well intended but often ends up in trouble simply out of ignorance. In the episode "Sailor Mouth", Patrick and SpongeBob read grafitti on a dumpster and Patrick explains that it's merely "fancy talk". They walk around swearing all day before learning the writing is actually "bad words."

SpongeBob SquarePants creator Stephen Hillenburg began creating cartoons and caricatures of tide pool-dwelling sea life, includingstarfishes, while teaching marine biology at the Orange County Marine Institute in Dana Point, California from 1984 to 1987. The idea for giving Patrick a lack of intelligence was due to the fact that real sea stars do not have a brain in their body.